The Sunday Tribune has learned that gardaA- at Fitzgibbon Street received a phone call at 2.50pm last Sunday from a man who said there was a device in the Hogan Stand.

A full emergency plan was immediately implemented and gardaA- and stewards carried out a lowprofile security sweep of the stadium for the suspect package. Nothing was discovered and it was determined that the call was a hoax. An investigation has been launched into the incident.

Both gardaA- and Croke Park officials are eager to play down the threat and say that all possible safeguards are in place to deal with bomb threats in a professional and efficient manner while ensuring the general public are not disturbed unless absolutely necessary.

A decision was made not to disrupt the start of last week's match because no recognised code word was used by the caller. All paramilitary groups use specific code words so the authorities can immediately tell that they are genuine.

The garda presence at Croke Park was increased by 25% last Sunday from 300 to 400 officers, and the same number of gardaA- will be on duty next Saturday when England come to Croke Park.

Several dozen members of the Public Order Unit will be on standby close to the ground but this is standard procedure when any large sporting event takes place at Croke Park. Garda sources say they have no intelligence to indicate that any major protests are planned, although small groups of people might gather to protest over England playing at the home of the GAA. Republican Sinn FAcopyrightin has confirmed that it will be holding a protest outside the ground "at the playing of the English national anthem, 'God Save the Queen', and the flying of the English flag in Croke Park whilst England continues to occupy part of Ireland."

A garda source said: "We did increase our numbers last week but this was mainly due to the fact that most people going to Croke Park hadn't been in the stadium before and needed more help in being directed towards the stadium. Apart from the bomb call, which was just somebody acting up, the crowd behaved impeccably and we have no reason to believe that it will be any different at the England match."